WATCH: Labour MP calls on PM to apologise for “racist remarks”

Labour’s Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, who was elected as the first turbaned Sikh MP in 2017, called on Boris Johnson to apologise for his “derogatory and racist remarks” about Muslim women at PMQs today.

The MP for Slough said: “If I decide to wear a turban, or you decide to wear a cross, or he decides to wear a kippah or skullcap, or she decides to wear a hijab or a burqa, does that mean it is open season for Rt Honourable Members of this House to make derogatory and divisive remarks about our appearance?

“For those of us who from a young age had to endure and face up to being called names such as ‘towel head’ or ‘Taliban’ or coming from ‘bongo bongo land’, we can appreciate full well the hurt and pain felt by already vulnerable Muslim women when they are described as looking like ‘bank robbers’ and ‘letter boxes’.”

Dhesi received huge applause from the opposition benches. He added: “Rather than hide behind sham and whitewashed investigations, when will the Prime Minister finally apologise for his derogatory and racist remarks which have led to a spike in hate crime and given the increasing prevalence of such incidents in his party? When will the Prime Minister finally order an inquiry into Islamophobia within the Conservative Party, something which he and his Chancellor promised on national television?”

Here’s the moment @tandhesi demanded an apology from Boris Johnson for his “derogatory and racist” remarks about Muslim women, to applause in the House of Commons. pic.twitter.com/g1yzmIb65Q

— BuzzFeed UK (@BuzzFeedUK) September 4, 2019